Little Dorrit Party

This past Saturday, my friend S and I hosted a "Victorian Gala" during which we watched the movie  Little Dorrit. 

Let me just say, I have never sat in front of a TV for that many hours at one time. The BBC version of Little Dorrit is a timeless classic.....but it is also 7.5 hours long. Yes, you read that correctly. Seven and a half hours. But, despite its length, it really is worth watching*. As I have now seen it all at once as well as in parts, I would recommend the latter, but it is great either way.

Since I have a propensity for giving away details of the plot, I will not write much about the plot. Let me just say, it is a fun fulfilling story, which is full of surprising plot twists and unique characters. In terms of the film, the acting was superb and genuinely made one empathize with the characters. The plot is fairly close to the book with mostly minor changes here and there. All in all, good triumphs and evil is torn apart. 

That said, here are several pictures from the party: 

A watermelon teapot which S and I carved out! (Note the tulips that S carved into the front!) On the right side of the picture, you can also see a pitcher of homemade lemonade as well as some crackers from Great Britain. After all, if you are going to have a Victorian Gala, you must serve something from Great Britain.

Here is the cake we made!  It was a triple layer deep dark chocolate cake filled with cherry pie filling and kirsch ganache. The frosting itself was a simple ganache which was then folded with whipped cream for decorating. We barely finished preparing the cake before the guests arrived! 

The cake was sweet, but sweetest of all were the guests! 

*Please note: Little Dorrit is definitely not a kids movie as the plot definitely has its downs (as well as its ups), but teenagers should be able to handle it. It should be noted as well that there is a little bit of an iffy scene at one point which is not necessary and is used to show how despicable one of the characters is. It is fairly obvious when to fast forward, but I wanted to let you know. Some might not have an issue with it as it is not explicit.  Personally, I would rather safeguard my purity especially since the scene is not integral to the plot.

He is Our Vanishing Point

I've never really liked modern art. I should clarify--let's just say, I do not like art that does not portray proper order/perspective. Hence, I'm not a huge fan of Cubism or Surrealism. 


In high school, when I learned about vanishing points, I was amazed at how they were used to "real"-ize any object from any angle. Now, I could actually draw a table instead of some misshapen, unrecognizable scribble. I could draw a whole scene and make each aspect of it the correct size in relation to the rest of the scene. It was as if I were nearsighted and someone had given me the key to clear vision.... ok. perhaps I am exaggerating a little bit, but you get the point. 

Needless to say, the concept of a vanishing point is probably one of the only things I remember from my high school art class. Therefore, when I came upon a reference to it in Little Dorrit, it caught my attention. In this case, Charles Dickens uses the concept allegorically in reference to one of the character's love life. 

Looking back upon his own poor story, she was its vanishing-point. 
Every thing in its perspective led to her innocent figure. He had
travelled thousands of miles towards it; previous unquiet hopes and
doubts had worked themselves out before it; it was the centre of
the interest of his life; it was the termination of everything that
was good and pleasant in it; beyond, there was nothing but mere
waste and darkened sky.                                                                                 (http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/dickens/little-dorrit/64/)

As I read this paragraph, it entered my mind that although this is a fitting allegory for romance, it is even more apropos in reference to Christ. He is this world's true vanishing point. Everything in life gets its proper perspective in relation to Him. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. Through the distortion caused by sin, we lose our proper perspective on everything.  We get our perspective back only when we focus on Christ. 

Do you have any thoughts about it?